Li Na
Any nerves out there on Rod Laver today?
I think at the end I was a little nervous. Also in the beginning, first game I was a little nervous, shaking a little. But I had to speak after my match, and I think that was the most difficult part of today....
An-Sophie Mestach
What went through your mind when they presented you with the trophy?
Little bit big....If I take the trophy, maybe they couldn't see my face.
Li Na
...she did everything better than me in that first set. I mean, obviously her groundstrokes were heavier, deeper. She served better. She returned better. So I think, you know, she was playing really, really well probably the best that I've ever played against her, or that she played against me.
Kim Clijsters, commenting on her opponent, Li Na
Do you feel like this is your home Grand Slam? Do you feel more at home in Melbourne than maybe Wimbledon or New York or Paris?
I was feeling today I was playing in Belgium because all the fans was applaud for the Kim.
Li Na
Thanks Li Na for showing the rest of the world just how partisan tennis fans can be. No matter where in the world you play against her, fans just seem to show up to cheer for her and her alone. I would think it makes tennis players the world over feel like they are fighting a literal war against her. I am glad that it was Li and not Venus or Serena against whom Kim was playing because something tells me that it would perhaps get downright ugly.
ReplyDeleteWhile I am happy for Clijsters I cannot help but think that I will be glad when she finally packs her bags, her hubby that is scaring the bejeebers out of me and her adorable daughter and leaves the tennis scene for good.
All this sugary sweetness is enough to give one diabetes. Give me Justine and Serena with their intensity and fierceness any day over all this syrupy goodness. Bleech.
In fairness to Clijsters, the sports media has manufactured a certain version of her. When she talks about a player who cheats, or about how she came back because she thought the players on the tour were so bad, no one quotes her or talks about her. I think she's a bit more dimensional than she is portrayed.
ReplyDeleteMy only real issue with her (other than the former bad interviews, and she has overcome those) is the Barbie thing. To align with Mattel in advocating that all females (even children) be dangerously skinny--and she aligned with them by supporting and promoting the stupid Barbie--really troubled me.
However, social insight and women's advocacy is not exactly a common trait among members of the tour. Clijsters is no Venus Williams or Flavia Pennetta.